Effects of substrate bias on structure and mechanical properties of (AlCrNbSiTiV)N coatings

Abstract

AlCrNbSiTiV nitride films were deposited by reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and the effects of substrate bias on the chemical composition, structure and mechanical properties of the deposited films were investigated. AlCrNbSiTiV nitride films exhibit a single FCC NaCl-type structure and have the stoichiometric nitride ratio of (Al, Cr, Nb, Si, Ti, V)50N50. The deposition rate decreases with increasing substrate bias due to resputtering effects and densification of films, which also leads to less obvious columnar structure, reduced grain size, smaller surface roughness and transition of preferred orientation from the (1 1 1) plane to the (2 0 0) plane. The nitride film deposited at −100 V exhibits the maximum compressive stress around 4.5 GPa and attains a peak hardness and an elastic modulus of 42 GPa and 350 GPa, respectively, which fall in the superhard grade. Moreover, the film keeps its hardness at the superhard grade even after its residual compressive stress was partially released by annealing at 1073 K for 5 h. The structural evolution mechanism and strengthening mechanism are both discussed.